SYRIA- Local Syrian NGOs along with International ones condemned late on Wednesday the killing of Secretary General of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Dr. Abdel Razaq Jbeiro and a Christian priest the Rev. Basilious Nasser on Wednesday.

Syrian Arab Red Crescent Dr. Jbeiro was shot dead Wednesday as he travelled outside the capital Damascus in a clearly marked vehicle, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

Doctor Abd-al-Razzaq Jbeiro, also head of the Red Crescent branch in the northern town of Idlib, was on the highway to Idlib from Damascus after attending meetings at Red Crescent headquarters, the agency said in a statement.

“Regardless of the circumstances, the ICRC condemns this very severely,” Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, head of ICRC operations for the Near and Middle East, told Reuters in Geneva.

In a statement expressing shock at the killing, the International Committee of the Red Cross called on “all those involved in the violence” to spare Red Cross and Red Crescent staff members.

“The exclusively humanitarian aim of the Red Crescent and Red Cross is to bring aid in a fully impartial and neutral manner to people in need,” the statement said.

She added that the “lack of respect for medical services” remained a major issue in Syria.

“The president of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Dr. AbdulRahman al-Attar, said that he has “officially requested the Syrian authorities to launch an investigation into the death of Dr. Jbeiro,” the ICRC said in a statement.

Syria official media reported Wednesday “The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) denounced the assassination of head of Red Crescent Branch in Idleb Dr. Abdel Razaq Jbeiro, who was gunned down by armed terrorist group on Wednesday in Khan Shekhoun.”

Syrian state television blamed “terrorists” for the killing, saying he had been “assassinated” in Khan Sheikhoun district.

State-run SANA news agency added “A statement issued by the three organizations said that the news of Dr. Jbeiro’s death was a great shock, pointing out that Jbeiro was on his way back to work after the conclusion of meetings held in Damascus, and that he was in a car clearly carrying the distinct logo and symbol of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.”

Dr. Jbeiro, born in 1945, had also previously worked as director of Idlib hospital.

Megevand-Roggo, who had just returned from a two-week trip to Syria, Yemen and Lebanon, told Reuters that checkpoints and harassment in Syria prevented ambulances and medical workers from evacuating and treating the wounded, some of whom have died as a result.

“It is very difficult for the wounded, notably those among the opposition forces, to get access to necessary medical care. It is difficult for medical personnel to do their work without being under pressure,” she said. “Lives have been lost.”

“There have been repeated incidents where Red Crescent ambulances have been shot at, our volunteers have been wounded. Their work is very dangerous,” she added to Reuters.

“Protests started out as non-violent but today the situation is one of widespread violence in the country because many arms are circulating and many people use them, Megevand-Roggo said.

“Our access remains fairly random, we cannot go places with any regularity or frequency, some areas are more problematic than others,” she said. “We’d like to develop a more regular and frequent presence in affected areas, including rural zones.”

The ICRC started visiting prisoners in Syria for the first time last September, including the central prison in Damascus.

But it has been unable to carry out further visits to detention centers due to a disagreement with Syrian authorities over the ICRC’s standard terms, she said.

“The dialogue is difficult, we are in a situation of stagnation regarding the possibility for us to resume our activities and visit other detention centers,” she said.

ICRC terms worldwide include the right to interview prisoners privately about their treatment and conditions of detention and to make follow-up visits.

Syrian authorities say that more than 5,000 detainees were released under Bashar’s latest amnesty this month, although activists say this still leaves many thousands more behind bars.

“There are certainly several thousand detainees. We have very little information on the situation,” Megevand-Roggo said. “The most urgent thing is to be able to tell families where their loved ones are being held and to facilitate contact between them.”

The ICRC is the only international agency deploying aid workers in Syria. A local Red Crescent volunteer was killed and three others were injured in the flashpoint city of Homs last September when an ambulance came under heavy fire.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in a 10-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad`s regime, the United Nations said last month.

LaPANGAN MRA 1

Malaysian Relief International – Tashkent Office 1994

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BANTUAN KEMANUSIAAN = HUMANITARIAN

Humanitarianism is an informal ideology of practice, whereby people practice humane treatment and provide assistance to others; it is the doctrine that people's duty is to promote human welfare.[1]
Humanitarianism is based on a view that all human beings deserve respect and dignity and should be treated as such. Therefore, humanitarians work towards advancing the well-being of humanity as a whole. It is the antithesis of the "us vs. them" mentality that characterizes tribalism and ethnic nationalism. Humanitarians abhor slavery, violation of basic and human rights, and discrimination on the basis of features such as colour of skin, religion, ancestry, place of birth, etc. Humanitarianism drives people to save lives, alleviate suffering and promote human dignity in the middle of man-made or natural disasters. Humanitarianism is embraced by movements and people across the political spectrum. The informal ideology can be summed up by a quote from Albert Schweitzer: "Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose."